Howto: Installing Gnome (third draft)
Posts: 78
What follows is the revised version of the installing Gnome howto. It incorporates all the tips, updates, and changes discovered through testing since the second draft. Thanks goes out to (in no particular order) stibs, cnik, rdivirgilio, and siacs for helping to test the steps in the howto and telling me about problems they encountered.
Howto: Installing Gnome on Mepis Linux 10.2003
First, a disclaimer. These are the steps I followed to get Gnome up and running on my Mepis system. I'm no Linux wizard; this process was stumbled upon simply by pure luck and a lot of experimentation. I can't guarantee that they'll work for you, though they did work well for me. Like they say on the Debian website, if you break your system, you can keep the pieces. 
Note that these instructions are for a pretty basic, freshly installed Mepis install. If you've changed your system since then, you might need to skip some of these steps or change them slightly.
Contents:
- Removing the Geramik Theme
- Downloading & Installing the Gnome Packages
- Post-Install Issues and Gnome Setup
- Troubleshooting
Step 1: Removing the Geramik Theme
This first step is optional. If you're one of those people who actually likes Geramik, feel free to skip it. If, on the other hand, you're someone who (like me) thinks Geramik is just plain ugly, you'll probably want to remove it before you do anything else.
Geramik is setup by KDE to be the default theme for all GTK and GTK2 applications. The way it's installed by default makes it basically impossible to change the GTK theme to anything else.
The first step in removing Geramik is uninstalling the packages from your system. Since Mepis is a debian-based distro, this is done via Apt. Start up a terminal (the default KDE terminal is called Konsole) and become root by typing 'su' and then the root password you selected when you installed Mepis.
At the root prompt, type:
apt-get remove gtk-engines-geramik*
and
apt-get remove gtk2-engines-geramik*
Some posts in the Mepis forum recommend uninstalling the QTPixmap packages as well. I didn't (I'm not sure if they're needed for anything else), and they don't seem to hurt anything by staying on the system, so you might want to just leave them.
Now Geramik is uninstalled but GTK still wants to use it as the default theme. If you try to start a GTK app from a terminal it will spit out a bunch of nasty error messages because it can't find the Geramik files. To prevent these error messages, you need to reset the GTK default theme. This can be done by removing the current theme settings, which are defined in a file called 'gtkrc'. This file is found in two places: /etc/gtk-2.0 and /etc/gtk.
To remove gtkrc, open a terminal window and become root. Navigate to those directories using the 'cd' command, then remove the gtkrc file. We'll copy it so if we ever need it later, it'll still be there.
cd /etc/gtk-2.0 cp gtkrc gtkrc.old rm gtkrc
Then navigate to the /etc/gtk directory and run the same commands.
Geramik is now completely removed from your system. You might want to install the 'gtk-theme-switch' package so you can set your gtk theme from inside KDE. It's available through Apt.
Step 2: Downloading and Installing the Gnome Packages
Download and installation of the Gnome packages is handled by Apt. The standard method for getting the packages that Gnome needs is to install the 'gnome' metapackage. Unfortunately, the gnome metapackage is not installable under Debian/Unstable (sid) because of broken package dependancies. 'gnome' depends on 'gnome-office', which in turn depends on 'mrproject', which depends on a package called 'planner', which is not in the Unstable repositories. A bug report has been filed to the Debian bug database. It is viewable here:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=224031
It's still possible to download most of the necessary Gnome packages by installing the 'gnome-desktop-environment' package, which depends on most of the vital Gnome packages. Unfortunately, gnome-desktop-environment doesn't include some packages you'll need for a fully functional Gnome desktop; you might want to run through the available Gnome packages in Synaptic and queue up anything that looks interesting or important. Make sure you download the 'gconf' package; Gnome stores important application data there and you'll need it later. You probably don't want to install Rhythmbox; its installation script is funky and it will introduce complexity to the install that you probably don't want to deal with now. You can install it separately later without too many problems.
Start the download and go ahead and get some coffee or a sandwich. Even on DSL or cable the download will probably take at least 45 minutes. If you're on dialup, it would probably be best if you just let the download run overnight.
Eventually the download will finish and the packages should install without any problems. If there are problems, you might try typing 'apt-get -f install' at a command prompt. Sorry, but fixing dpkg install issues is beyond the scope of this howto.
Once the installation is finished, log out of KDE (or whatever window manager you're in now). Log back in, making sure you select 'gnome-session' as your session type on the KDM login screen.
Step 3: Post-Install Issues and Gnome Setup
Gnome should begin to load (you'll see the Gnome splash screen), then stop and throw a blank, borderless terminal window onto the screen. You can wait here for about 15 minutes and Gnome will continue to load on its own, or, if you're the impatient type, you can type 'metacity' into the terminal window to speed up the process. Even after typing metacity at the prompt Gnome could take 3 or 4 minutes to load fully; please be patient.
Eventually Gnome will start and you'll be deposited into a standard Gnome desktop. Now you need to configure Gnome to avoid that nasty terminal window at startup.
What is happening is that Gnome doesn't know what window manager to load at startup. To fix that, go to the Gnome menu at the upper-left corner of the screen, then to 'System Tools', then click on 'Configuration Editor'. This is the graphical interface to the gconf system.
The left side of the GConf editor window is a tree view. Expand the 'desktop' branch by clicking the little triangle next to the name. The expand the 'gnome' branch in the same way, and then the 'applications' branch. Click on the 'window_manager' branch underneath applications to select it.
On the right side of the window is a listing of the available keys for the window_manager branch. One of them is called 'default'. Click it to select it. The value for the key is probably something like '/usr/bin/xterm' or similar. This tells Gnome to load xterm as its default window manager, which isn't very useful to most users. You need to change it to something better. Click the key's value field (where it says '/usr/bin/xterm') and change it to read:
/usr/bin/metacity
then quit out of the GConf editor. Close all running programs, and then lLog out of gnome, making sure to click the "save current session" checkbox on the logout dialog. If you do not save your session, it is likely that Gnome will not remember the changes you made to the window manager settings.
Log back in. You should have a working Gnome desktop.
Troubleshooting
Some people have reported that resetting the window manager configuration with GConf doesn't fix the problem. If that is the case, there are several packages that have helped to solve this problem in the past for some users. First, try installing the debhelper package.
Debhelper's post-install configuration script usually fixes the problem with the window manager in Gnome.
Open a terminal, become root, and type the following:
apt-get install debhelper
Apt will download the latest version of debhelper and install it.
Note that if you've run a 'dist-upgrade' on your system, apt will most likely report that debhelper is already the latest version. If that is the case, you'll need to remove the debhelper package and then reinstall it. Open a terminal and become root. Then type:
apt-get remove debhelper
Two other packages depend on debhelper: 'alien' and 'dh-make'. Apt give you the option of removing them as well. Go ahead and do it.
Once it finishes, re-install debhelper, alien, and dh-make.
apt-get install debhelper apt-get install alien apt-get install dh-make
Log out (remembering to save your session) and log back in.
If Gnome still doesn't load correctly, try installing the 'icewm-gnome' package.
apt-get install icewm-gnome
Log out (remembering again to save your gnome session when you do so) and log back in.
Now that you've got a working Gnome system, be sure to install whatever other software you need. You might want to run a 'dist-upgrade' as well, to make sure you've got the latest versions of the software installed on your system. If you do this, MAKE SURE you DO NOT upgrade any of the kernel packages or the Nvidia drivers. On my system, apt always wants to update the 'nvidia-kernel-common' package; doing this will hose your xwindows setup.
Hope that helps!
-joshua
Postscript: Please let me know (either by email or through comments to this post) if anything doesn't work or if the instructions are confusing or unclear. If you have any comments or suggestions, please send those along as well. I'll incorporate them into the next draft of this Howto. I'd like to post it to my website at least; maybe this can be my first contribution to the Linux community.
Worked this time!! Yeah Baby
Posts: 71
After reinstalling Mepis and attempting this a second time it worked.
I did click the save session button as i exited gnome after my first go-around of changing the window manager startup, then reloaded gnome again to find the same problem. It wasn't until i installed the latest version of debhelper, changed /usr/X1186/bin/* to /usr/bin/metacity, then logged out while saving the session after which i relogged in and presto--- Gnome loads in a snap.
By the way, i reinstalled Mepis because i had made so many changes via apt and synaptic that i believed i broke some packages. Mepis being a mix of stable and unstable could cause some problems if you attempt to make numerous changes, so be careful. Without great support and suggestions like these Mepis would be just another distro!.
There is only one problem that i have seen. the icons that you have populated on your kde desktop cary over to your new gnome desktop. Some of these icons change and need to be renamed. When you rename these and then relog into kde, the changes you made in gnome are now reflected on the kde desktop. This needs to be looked into. there should be seperate desktop settings for each.
Excellent!
Posts: 78
Siacs:
I'm glad that worked for you! I don't know, but saving your session after entering 'metacity' at the prompt should have accomplished the same thing as changing the session file. The reason you encountered the xterm again when you logged in a different user was because there are separate session files for each user on the system.
I don't think your instructions would mess up anyone's system. Would you mind if I added your suggestions to the howto?
-joshua
Feel free
Posts: 17
For some reason it just would not save the setting (not sure why)
I tried all ways but this is the only one that worked.
I doubt this would have an ill affect on anyones computer but you never know.I was prepared for a total reinstall if need be but others might not be.
Please feel free to use this info for the how-to
I hope this helps
apt-get install icewm-gnome
Posts: 17
Durind the trial and error to get gnome running I did an
apt-get install icewm-gnome and now I have lostn icewm-dfm
anyone know how to get it back?
Most Excellent
Posts: 30
I followed this 3rd draft today (I've had Mepis installed on my hard drive now for almost 1 week) and it has worked perfectly for me (as has pretty much everything about Mepis so far). I like being able to have the choice of desktops. Thanks for a well-written draft. I'll go through it one more time to see if I can provide any constructive criticism at all, but I'm not sure from my experience that any is needed, it worked!
--
Seven days without bar-b-que makes one weak.
Gnome Metapackage Bug Fixed
Posts: 78
The Debian guys are reporting this bug fixed; they uploaded a new metapackage that doesn't depend on mrproject. The bugreport notes that this is a temporary solution; it may break again in the future.
-joshua
Hey Guy's, None of this stuff
Posts: 1
Hey Guy's, None of this stuff worked for me. GConf would not save my setting's. Then I remebered that Slackware set's an enviroment variable for metacity. From a command line type
# export WINDOW_MANAGER=metacity
That should do the trick. Just add that line to your??~/.bashrc or /etc/profile
Just Wanted to Add
Posts: 17
Worked good for me.?? I just wanted to add that you may have to restart after installing the packages, it didn't work for me until I restarted.
Update as of May 2004 beta
Posts: 13
I installed gnome-50 this afternoon with much success. I am stunned at the speed. I hit enter on the login panel and before I get to "2 mississippi" I'm sitting at the gnome desktop with the system monitor saying 0% cpu.
Here is what I did:
1) removed Keramic basically as mentioned above.
2) installed the gnome bundle via synaptic
3) logged out of KDE and into Gnome
4) launched ephinany and wrote this message.
I'm in the process of adding some more themes, applets, etc.. It's quite a nice interface.
This is what MEPIS and Debian are all about....
ps. My trackball now works in gnome whereas it didn't in KDE.
Running Gnome Apps in KDE
Posts: 29
I was able to install Gnome in one click using KPackage. I use KDE as my desktop, but I run many Gnome applications, particularly Galeon, which depend on the Gnome Control Center to set their themes, fonts, icons, etc.
If you are running KDE and want to have your Gnome applications preserve the appearance setting that you have set up for them in the Gnome Control Center, then you must have the gnome-settings-daemon running in KDE.
This is very easy to do. You need to place a gnome-control-daemon.desktop file in KDE's autostart directory. This can be your personal autostart directory <home>/.kde/Autostart, but all KDE users would be served if you instead place it in the /usr/share/autostart directory.
The gnome-control-daemon.desktop can be created by right clicking on the desktop and selecting Create New -> Link to Application... or you can just copy the contents of my gnome-control-daemon.desktop:
[Desktop Entry]
Comment=Sets the proper fonts & colors for Gnome Applications.
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=/usr/bin/gnome-settings-daemon
Name=Gnome Settings Daemon
GregS
Gnome Mepis compatability
Posts: 627
This is all good advise through beta4. B4 is a real sweetheart, but the latest beta5 is again giving a lot of conflicts trying to add Gnome. I'll add tips as I resolve some of this.
"People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like."
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), in a book review
Gnome installs easily in the
Posts: 3
Gnome installs easily in the new Mepis beta 5 listed on Distrowatch.?? A simple 'apt-get install gnome' worked for me.
Mepis version?
Posts: 627
Be nice if you'd give the exact version that you're using.
jim
Posts: 1296
The new beta 05 that is on Distrowatch is the same one in the public distribution. It's the 603 beta, name was changed.
joshua wrote>J>Geramik
Posts: 26
joshua wrote>
J>Geramik is now completely removed from your system. You might J>want to install the 'gtk-theme-switch' package so you can set your gtk J>theme from inside KDE. It's available through Apt.
All the previous steps in the howto give specific terminal instructions for each step in the sequence.?? PLEASE do the same for the above??? I'm new at this, and greatly appreciate being told the exact syntax to use.?? Less chance of my mucking it up that way - and I really want Gnome on my Mepis box!
Thanks!
I can't get a successful inst
Posts: 26
I can't get a successful install of Gnome, I'm at a loss. Neither Kpackage, nor the apt-get syntax is rocket science, but I can't make it work.
Supposedly, I should type the following lines in a terminal, right? They are:
apt-get update
And after that completes, type:
apt-get install gnome
Then it should get the whole Gnome package, correct?
And in Kpackage, select the Gnome components you want to install by putting a big green check to the right of the item. Click on the LEFT 'Install' button - the one next to the 'Uninstall' button. Then click on the RIGHT install button (not good GUI design, here).
This brings up a child window, where you can view the progress of the operation, after you click on, IIRC, a third 'Install' button. Also in Kpackage, log in as user (not root) and give the root password when prompted - for some unknown, arcane reason.
And why is there no way to select the whole Gnome package at once in Kpackage? Selecting individual packages is tedious - although you do get acquainted with what's there, and have a chance to slim it down.
No matter how I do the Gnome install, I wind up with:
>E: Unmet dependancies. Try apt-get -f install with no packages or specify a solution.
RESULT=100
This is true both from the CD, and a Web download.?? And 'apt-get -f install' fails.????
So I can't do the steps in the Gnome install, because I can't get Gnome properly. Can't make a rabbit stew, 'til you catch that rabbit...
Can I bribe??you guys ??with free audio advice, so you can??help me get??Gnome on my 'puter? (grin) I used to be a pro recording engineer, and I'm still pretty techy that way.
Hello Group:I am useing Simpl
Posts: 228
Hello Group:
I am useing Simply MEPIS RC3.?? I was able to install Gnome without any errors useing the kpackage manage.?? I updated my list.?? Then I looked for Gnome desktop and clicked on install.?? It download, and installed without any errors.
But now I do not know how to start a Gnome session.?? On boot up I get KDE.?? I did look in the control pannel under login manager for session type, or some tab to add gnome.?? Could not find one.?? In the loggin under session type Gnome does not show up either.
What, or where do I?? know do.
Frank
An alternate way to install Gnome...
Posts: 26
This procedure was worked out by a tech (Jim D.) for me. Jim works with another of the pro bono Linux support websites ??? it???s called Free Linux Support Net.??
Their approach is a little different from most sites, a volunteer pro bono tech is assigned to your case, and you both hammer away at it. Jim has had a 100% success rate with the problems I???ve thrown at him.
I had previously tried to install Gnome by following the howto here, and not gotten it working. But this procedure did work ??? likely (as with most computer things) there are several valid ways to install Gnome.
CAVEATS ??? please note the following conditions needed for the install to work:
*You must start with an unmodified version of Mepis ??? a clean install that has not had any package changes done to it. You experienced Linuxians may be able to get around this, but both Jim and I found that you need a clean install for this to work.
*The Geramik theme does NOT have to be removed for this to work. Nor does it interfere with choosing different themes while running Gnome. This is as of Aug 5, ???04.
*Gnome is installed as the ???default??? desktop ??? it does NOT show up in the list of available desktops other than as the default. You can still choose other desktops if you want to.
*This was done with the 2003.10.02 version of Mepis. If you use a different version, your mileage may vary???
*Wherever I make a comment, I???ll put a JH> symbol, all the rest is Jim.
First, we start Synaptic. Login as root, open a console window and run synaptic from the command line (the synaptic icon won't let you run synaptic as root, Lord alone knows why). I find it a lot easier to use synaptic if I full size it to fill the screen. JH>He???s right, the Synaptic prog starts to launch from the GUI, but never opens ??? just times out.
Next we update your list of packages. Select Update List to get the latest package lists from your sources. I always get at least one failure at this point, but it doesn't seem to matter. If you get more than two, you should probably try re-running it. JH>I had to run it twice.
Now we try installing Gnome.
Select GNOME Desktop Environment/gnome. Select Install. Select Queue. Selected Execute. Select Execute. Wait for a while. If you get prompted for any configuration information, make your best guess, but always keep your current configuration files. JH>Variance ??? config files are queried later. Paper size and Thumbnail handling are queried here. The installation will fail with unmet dependencies. This is what normally stops you. Close the package manager to get back to the Synaptic main screen. JH>Yes ??? it fails.
Now we try to fix the problems. Select Actions/Clear All Queued Changes. This clears the queue so you don't keep trying to install Gnome. Next we tell Synaptic to fix the broken packages. Select Actions/Fix Broken Packages. Select Execute. Select Execute. JH>Works, but fails.
This may also fail. If it does, repeat clearing the queue and fixing the packages. It took two tries, but Synaptic fixed all the conflicts for me. JH>Worked on 2nd try.
Retry installing gnome. It should work this time. Configuration files are queried on the 2nd install. Kept all originals.
This led to a long list of ???setting up??? packages.
When it's done, close the package manager, close synaptic, and run ldconfig from the command line. This updates your library configurations. I'm not sure why you need to do this, as I'd think it would be part of the update process, but I know both I and other people have had problems which this fixed.
Reboot. Mepis should come up with Gnome as your default desktop. It isn't pretty, but it seems to be functional. You can still get into KDE by selecting KDE3 from the drop down menu. The sound may be broken in KDE, but that's another issue (though curiously, it wasn't this time, only the first time I tried this) JH>Jim found his sound worked on the 2nd install. Mine worked right away.
Let me know if this works for your or not.
Oh, if this works you're welcome to post the procedure to the Mepis forums. You can even take most of the credit. JH>Nah, credit where credit is due???
James Dixon
Successful gnome install on released simplyMEPIS
Posts: 8
I followed the instructions in the original post and was able to get gnome going on a brand new simplyMEPIS 2004.01 install with one additional step.
Before installing the gnome-desktop-environment package I had to change the version of my libnspr4 package.?? I think it comes with version 2:1.7 something.?? I used kpackage to uninstall that existing package, then used kpackage again to re-install it, and it automatically picked the version I needed, 2:1-6.5.?? I only figured this out by doing a bunch of apt-get installs and following the errors.
I hope this helps some others out!
Okay real easy way to get Gnome and get it in KDM
Posts: 1296
I did this with 2004.rc5 and just yesterday with 2004.02 of SimplyMepis.
For 02 version I had to edit the /etc/apt/apt.conf file to change from "testing" to "unstable" in the first line. rc5 already is set for unstable.
1. Open Kpackage, do the update to load your sources.
2. Click on the All or New tabs (doesn't really matter) and then hunt for the section that says gnome.
3. Click on (little circles to right of packagename) everything that says Gnome (even gdm) and also click on any gtk2 themes you want and other gnome programs that you want.
4. Click install marked and then install on next window.
5. If you had installed totem previously you will have to uninstall it first and then install it again along with gnome (it's a dependency of gnome and needs to be installed at the same time)
6. During the download and install process you will get a prompt asking if you want to use gdm or kdm (stick with kdm! I had chosen gdm myself once before and ended up with a blank screen when I logged out of my session later on).
7. After the install, reboot and then when you get to the kdm login screen open the session dropdown menu and you will see gnome listed as a choice for you to boot into. This same thing applies also after you install fluxbox, xfce4 or any other window managers you want to install.
Now I have to point out that this worked for me fine but I can't guarantee that it will work for everyone because before I did the gnome install, I had upgraded my kde 3.2 to 3.3 and upgraded my x packages to the latest version too. Plus I had installed several c compilers and other programs that I always install after a fresh install of Mepis.
Plus I want to point out that my experience with upgrading kde, installing gnome and other favorite window managers went flawlessly with the Simply Mepis 2004.02 version which was released very recently. This was a big difference that I have noticed than my experience in upgrading and installing these same programs with the earlier versions of Simply Mepis.
Ok,I have WON !!!!!
Posts: 17
Ok,I have tried to do this over and over and by george I think I have done it. I have followed the how-to a few times and still had the xterm at start up. Go to /etc/gnome and open
default.wm and default.session in a text editor, change all references to --default-wm wmaker to --default-wm metacity
save and exit, log out remembering to save current setup
and log back in should quickly boot into gnome.
All of this was done as root and when I logged back in as user I had the xterm again and typed metacity @ the promt and waited after gnome was loaded logged out remembering to save
current session and the next time gnome loaded fast.
Please remeber I am not a programer and cannot be responsible
if this messes up your install of Mepis. Seems to work though.
If anyone else gets this to work via this method or any other please post your results as we all want to know
Good Luck
Siacs
P.S. This was done on a clean install of Mepis 1.1
After first logout/login you should not need to save current session any more
One more note, my default in the gconf is still /usr/X11R6/bin/xterm